My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last month, BoB quietly celebrated two years of baking and blogging. I tried desperately to come up with some clever, unique way to mark that mini-achievement. Sadly, nothing seemed to come to mind. Then, I thought if BoB is all about baking, why not share with you one of my very favorite recipes?
This is my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. If ever I need to make a good impression through baked goods, these are my ticket. I’ve yet to give them to anyone who didn’t love them. Maybe they were all just being nice, but I don’t think so.

I am calling these my favorite chocolate chip cookie with a bit of hesitation. Not that they aren’t wonderful, because they truly are. But, I realize that not everyone will consider these the best chocolate chip cookie they’ve ever made. And, of course, there are many recipes out there still untried in my kitchen that I could potentially prefer to these. But, these have stood the test of time (well, at least for several years) and I still love them and get requests for them.

I adapted this recipe from one I found in a Southern Living cookbook several years ago. It made about twice as much cookie dough and nearly killed my stand mixer. Their cookies were to be made into giant cookies, much like those from the famous Levain Bakery. I opt for less dough and smaller cookies.

Even with a scaled recipe that makes about half the original amount of dough, my stand mixer really has to work to mix these. I don’t think I’d ever want to make these without the aid of a stand mixer. If you don’t have one, I might recommend halving the recipe to make it a bit easier.

So, what makes these so good? I’m not sure I can pinpoint any one thing. It’s just the whole package. I love that the oats are ground before mixing them in. They add a nice chewiness while not drawing too much attention to themselves. The two kinds of chocolate are just brilliant, and you know I’m going to tell you to use the very best you can find. And, of course, my beloved pecan just makes them even better.

As Bake or Break enters its third year, I thank all of you for reading and commenting. These first two years have been so wonderful and exciting and surprising, and I look forward to many more!

71 Comments

YUM! Love the chocolate “goo” look in your picture. The recipe looks very similar to the “Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie” recipe I received years ago and that I love. I have since seen many versions of it. I love the ground oats and the grated chocolate. Four-five years ago this was the only cookie I’d make and the recipe was huge, made like 120 cookies. Half batch is PLENTY. When I’d make this cookie and take it to different things, people started calling me “Martha Stewart” and loved it. Interesting you got your recipe from Southern Living. I know that $250 cookie recipe has been called a hoax, but wherever this recipe came from–it’s a great one!
I’ve been obsessed with choc chip cookies lately and have thought about this one many times and been meaning to make them again.
The Jacques Torres clone that just showed up in the NY Times article today is a darn good one, too. You’re right, there’s just so many out there and so many good ones. Sigh, it’s a tough life, huh.

What a way to celebrate a birthday for your blog. Who can go wrong with cookies?! The old standby chocolate chip cookie is a classic because it can do no wrong. Have you ever had the Levain bakery chocolate chip cookies? I wanted to try them because so many people rave about them

You have been such an inspiration, Jen, from the start! I completely trust your recipes, your photos are breathtaking and your generosity in sharing shows in every post.
Here’s to many more years to BoB! And these cookies are a great way of celebrating!

Outstanding! I love the use of oats, I never would have expected that the “ultimate” chocolate chip cookies would have oats in them. I can imagine the texture is fabulous. Those cookies posted above at Whole Grain Gourmet by Debra also look incredible…. perhaps a bake-off?

I remember not long ago you mentioned chocolate chip cookies weren’t your favorite. Considering that, you managed to pick a very good recipe (and cookie) to highlight for your 2 year anniversary. Congratulations to you and here’s wishing you many more blog anniversaries to come!

on behalf of my husband, friends, and work colleagues, thank you! i made your cookies over the weekend (adding 1 tsp of cinnamon and omitting the nuts, but otherwise unchanged.) everyone has been raving about them. only trouble is that now they’ll expect me to make more! oh well, so be it

congrats on the 2 years!
i just wanted to say how much of a fan I am of your blog. Just the pictures and allll your amazing recipes are great!
I made these cookies yesterday for a little party I had, and they went over GREAT! Everyone loved them, so i wanted to say thanks so much!
<3

Just had to let you know I finally got around to making these cookies! I made them with a mixture of Guittard milk chocolate chips (those “jumbo” sized chips) and chopped heath bar. I was careful not to over-bake and they turned out delish! Thanks for sharing your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!

I finally made these yesterday, and they were a hit at the office! I wasn’t too excited about them when they were fresh out of the oven, but they tasted great after cooling completely and sitting overnight. For the chocolate chips, I used the Guittard wafers, and for the milk chocolate, I froze and then chopped up some Ghirardelli chocolate squares. Delicious!

I just stumbled upon your blog today and you have a lot of nice recipes on here, I will be visiting this blog often. About the chocolate chip cookies can I make the dough ahead and chill overnite before baking them, also what kind of chocolate candy bars did you use.

I just made these cookies as my son’s school birthday treat (removed the pecans b/c one of his friends is allergic). They were a huge hit with the kids and teachers! E said that his best friend wouldn’t believe that they were homemade because they tasted too perfect. Thanks for the great recipe – going to a friend’s house next week, can’t wait to see what they taste like with nuts.

P.S. You weren’t kidding about how thick the dough was. If I didn’t have a stand mixer, trying to mix that would have made me cry.

Hi Jennifer, I read your blog from Swaziland, in Africa, and I sometimes try some of your recipes for dinners I have at home. Wonderful blog! It’s nice to be able to make baked goods in the absence of gourmet bakeries. The only issue I had was with the chocolate chip cookie recipe. It might be the altitude in Swaziland, but they came out completely flat, even after I tried the recipe twice, and tried different baking times. Do you have any suggestions? All my friends over here have started reading your blog, by the way.
Thanks a lot for any suggestions you might have!
xo
Floriza

Hi: I tried your cookies tonight — promising them as a gift to a special someone tomorrow. They turned out really flat. I kept adding more flour and baking soda. That helped a tad but not much. I’m going to try again tomorrow. Questions: 1) I did not sift any of the flour — are the 2 cups supposed to be sifted, or not sifted? 2) When you told Floriza that the butter might be too soft, what did you mean? My butter was soft enough to hand-mix but certainly not runny or melty at all. 3) Yours in the photo look sort of flat. Perhaps this recipe tends toward flatter cookies?

Janet, these are chewy cookies. I don’t really care for those crispy, crunchy varieties.

Lucinda, I don’t sift the flour. Butter can definitely get too soft. Usually about 30 minutes at room temperature is all it takes. Much more than that, and it’s too soft for baking. It should give when you press on it, but not break. I wouldn’t say these are that flat. I like to form the dough with a cookie scoop, as opposed to just dropping them. I think that usually makes them a bit thicker. Over-mixing can cause flat cookies, too. Good luck with your second batch!

I have made this recipe a few times and each time I like it more and MORE! This last time I needed a LOT of cookies so I made a double batch. Talk about putting my kitchen aid to the test. Anyway, I made a dumb mistake and didn’t inventory all of my ingredients and realized I only had enough oatmeal for one batch! So, I improvised by adding about 2 cups of whole wheat flour until the texture seemed right, and they still turned out GREAT with that extra hearty flavor that the oatmeal was supposed to provide. Great recipe!

i made these tonight for my super who spent 3 days on his elbows fixing my sink. this is the best recipe i’ve found in a long time. i ran out of pecans, so i used walnuts…i love walnuts, but i like pecans better for baking and i’m so excited to try them again. i’ll use this recipe a lot, thanks for sharing!

I made these cookies the other day and they remind me of some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten from Shelby’s Gourmet Cookies at http://www.shelbyscookies.com My mother order them for me while I was away at school. They came out soft and chewy just the way I like them. Great Job!

hey ur pics look delicious and tasty … gud work my friend jenni.. i’ll try 2 make myself at home .. wish me best of luck .. its first time i am going to make . after taking a look on ur pics . its my desire to make such tasty cookies

Just made a double batch of these using some Brach’s leftover milk chocolate stars for the chopped milk chocolate add-in. I got around 230 cookies using the #100 cookie scoop. I have shared them with about 5 groups and everyone thought they were great and said “this is a keeper recipe!”. Thanks for another great one, Jennifer.